Jam,Birdland,Sweet Melinda>Jam,Shine,Rivertrance,Jam,Texas

We were at this show and the vibe was as good as the music! Obviously Birdland is epic, but the entire show was a blast!

I've seen Cheese 49 times and I would give up most of those shows to have been at this one. The mix of the grass, with the jams, segues and not to forget Bela & most of the Flecktones and then Karl D, I can't say enough.
If you do not have this show you MUST get it. Whenever I go out on the road this show comes with me. I've met Heads at shows and soooooo many people rant and rave about this show. Give it a listen and you will understand the reviews and comments.
Aloha, Pete

I wish I was at this show just so I could see Birdland w/Bela Fleck. This might be one of the best jams on this archive. Blew me away man!!!

This show is pretty famous, and I see why, look at the setlist. But you'd think they would play more than one jazz tune at Jazzfest, even if it is the wannabe jazz Superfly Presents part.
Land's End sets the tone nicely, but is a little bit short. I was hoping for a reprise too, imagine what this show would be like if they had opened with the full-blown 25 minute Land's End? Still, it goes into Search pretty nicely. Search is standard. Cottonmouth is standard.
Three songs into the show and out comes the centerpiece of the show. This Birdland with the Flecktones is Cheese's best Birdland, although I enjoy a lot of the summer 2000 Birdlands as well. SCI recently tried to recapture this amazing act at the 8/2004 Jerry's Bday Bash with a Birdland with the Flecktones, but this one is way better. Much cooler Jeff Coffin part for most of the beginning of the song. By the time they get to the bluegrass breakdown part, there is a nice Billy - Victor - Bela rotation, with Bela and Victor playing identical sounding notes that differ only in pitch. Then Jeff returns and Kang's freight train fiddle comes in and the rest of the band joins in as well. The next half of the bluegrass breakdown is a jam with everyone, although Kang appears to be leading. Then nicely back into Birdland with everyone happy and nice sax.
So that was fun, then they close with a huge Sweet Melinda > Shine. Sweet Melinda.. eh, I like 2001 and later Sweet Melindas more for some reason. The jam before the last verse is pretty good here, though, except that they come back in for the last verse at the wrong time, and then the whole band is within half a beat of each other but not quite together and it sounds bad. Typical Lovelight jam; not much of a segue into Shine. Kang seems to be playing Shine well before the segue is over, then the rest of the band essentially stops and they start up again with some light Shine opening.
This Shine is good, especially the Kyle/keys section. Also the beginning of the Kang part where it sounds like a fleet of mandolins are flying overhead thanks to all the crazy reverb effects going on. The last part of Shine, just before they start the "Shiiiiine" is an important part, as it can often be quite epic, and here is an example of that. Still, this Shine doesn't beat 4/18/00, 2/x/00, and even 8/1/01 is better I think. Nice end to the set though, I imagine the audience stuck around.
Set 2
What could they play to match the monstrous first set. Only a song like Rivertrance would make the first set seem like a warm up. This Rivertrance doesn't have anything in particular worth mentioning here though, except that it's Rivertrance.
Next we have a Rollover sandwich. This Rollover sandwich reminds me a lot of the 11/18/00 one. Which one is better? Well, 11/18/00 is fall tour SCI so it's got the meat in the middle, but this one has one of the best jams back into Rollover that I can think of off the top of my head. After Outside Inside everything gets broken down and then builds and builds to a typical Rollover segue except more Kang on top of the usual crazy Kyle. As for the Karl Denson Lost, it's worth mentioning, but there are cooler Karl Denson guest appearances out there (see any of those early April 1999 shows; I also like his job on the Jazzfest 99 Land's End, although when I first got the song I had wished he was on flute).
Monster 1st set, monster 2nd set, monster encore. I like Billy a lot in the middle of this Texas when it's just him, the rest of the Texas jam is typical amazing Texas craziness.
This is the show I put on when I show someone SCI who has never heard them before. 5 stars of course.

one of my favorite shows

For the last year or so, this has been my favorite SCI show. The Land's End > Jam > Search is just that good. Drifting Away is beautiful and Birdland w/ Bela Fleck really gets cooking. The rest of the show is no slouch, either. Unless you're looking for more bluegrass and less jamming, there really isn't a weak moment in this one. Highly recommended.

This show is one of my favorite few shows from beginning to end for the year 2000. Hardly a dull moment throughout and shows a variety of styles and textures. There are many other great shows, IMHO, especially in early 2000 but this one features some great jams and explorations as well as some nice playing by some great guests.